100,000 Taels Secured

At this moment, Uchiha Gen had the urge to undo the Impure World Reincarnation right now and beat Orochimaru up, but if he did, Orochimaru would surely discover him. Thinking of those 100,000 ryo—not only had he failed to save any money, but he had also spent quite a bit—he sighed and decided to endure it for now.

As for other channels, it wasn't as if Uchiha Gen was completely out of options. With his current strength, stealing, robbing, killing, or collecting protection money would eventually add up to 100,000 ryo, but he always subconsciously avoided those solutions. As for Orochimaru's experimental equipment, could you really call it stealing if it belonged to one of your own?

He had seen his own eyes reflected in the water before. In this world of "cheaters," having only three tomoe and not even a Mangekyo was too embarrassing to show his face in public. Besides, if he caused too much trouble, there were plenty of people who would deal with him. Although he didn't know what being sealed felt like, he certainly didn't want to try it.

Two days passed by in a flash...

On the day of the exam, Kabuto came knocking. He saw Uchiha Gen leaning against the wall with a blank expression, fiddling with the cracks in his reanimated body, unaware that the artificial skin on his fingers had vanished, leaving a small pile of dust on the floor.

"..." Kabuto pushed up his glasses and spoke as if issuing an order, "It's time to go. Start the operation when everyone falls under the genjutsu. Your target is to take Sasuke away."

Seeing Uchiha Gen frown slightly, as if his mood had been disturbed, Kabuto subconsciously took half a step back, his body tensing up, though he forced a stiff smile, "This is Lord Orochimaru's order." With that, he turned and left.

After walking for a while, Kabuto took off his glasses to wipe away the fog, his expression no longer showing the previous unease. He shrugged, "Whether in life or death, the Uchiha clan is always so arrogant~"

As for the missing equipment, Kabuto intuitively felt it was Uchiha Gen's doing, but what would a dead man want with those things? Did he want to research how to resurrect himself? That would be truly ridiculous.

In Kabuto's view, if even Lord Orochimaru couldn't accomplish that, a mere Uchiha had even less of a chance.

Although that was indeed the truth—Ye Yuan hadn't been the type for research in his past life—he had a bug-like system and the very real Rebirth technique, so he didn't need to engage in scientific research.

The dust he had picked off soon regenerated and condensed back onto his fingers. Uchiha Gen looked at his fingers, which showed no change from before. Well, this isn't scientific, but it is very Six Paths.

As for taking Sasuke away? Uchiha Gen thought it was a joke. Take the last remaining seedling of the Uchiha clan to serve as a spare body for him? Who knew what kind of butterfly effect he might cause if he handed Sasuke over to Orochimaru early, leading to Orochimaru's success? Would the Six Paths acknowledge that guy? As for Itachi, that guy didn't even want to live in the first place.

After placing his bets, he arrived at the spectator stand and suddenly caught sight of Naruto, Sakura, and the others. After a moment's thought, Uchiha Gen decided to go over and say hello.

Seeing his view of the arena suddenly blocked, Naruto paused, looked up, and after a long time, finally remembered that this was the uncle who had treated him to ramen before.

Uchiha Gen watched his reaction, "..." Was his face really that unrecognizable?

Pointing at the forehead protector on Uchiha Gen's arm, Naruto said, "Uncle, why aren't you watching your own team members? Why are you running over here? Are you trying to scout for intel?"

Uchiha Gen was speechless. This brat really wasn't likable; had the camaraderie of that ramen bowl already vanished? Suddenly, he saw the still-living Dosu Kinata across the way, looking at him with a face full of confusion and speechlessness. His heart skipped a beat; he was still alive...

Not wanting to draw more attention from the main cast, he hurried to the seating area reserved for the Sound Ninja.

Seeing Uchiha Gen leave, Sakura asked quietly, "Naruto, do you know him?"

Naruto nodded, "He's a bit of a stingy uncle, but he's a good guy."

"?" Sakura.

Unaware that he had been issued a "good guy" card, Uchiha Gen used Body Flicker to appear in front of Dosu Kinata. He opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and finally managed only, "You're still alive?"

Dosu Kinata's forehead throbbed with a vein at these words. What was that supposed to mean? Was he cursing him to be dead? He snorted coldly, deciding to ignore this nominal "split-personality" captain of his.

He was alive, but the events of that day had crushed his pride entirely. Thinking of this, Dosu Kinata looked at Gaara with lingering fear, quickly averting his gaze before Gaara could notice the stare. That guy is a complete monster!! The match later...

"If I see you in the arena again, then just go die!" Gaara's pupils constricted as he seemed to be suppressing something. Despite his small stature, he radiated a killing intent as heavy as a mountain of corpses.

Forfeit! I have to forfeit!!

I'll die!!!

He hadn't even wanted to come to this arena, but thinking of the Sasuke that Lord Orochimaru coveted, he clenched his fists. He was still unwilling to give up, wanting to see just how special Sasuke was, but thinking of Gaara, he had already sentenced Sasuke to death in his heart.

Seeing that Dosu Kinata wasn't paying him any mind and seemed lost in thought, Uchiha Gen patted his head, "Why have you gone mute after not seeing each other for a while?"

"...I haven't." Dosu Kinata felt very angry and wanted to hit someone, but he was helpless against Uchiha Gen.

Uchiha Gen ignored Dosu Kinata's indignant expression and said, "If I remember correctly, you're only 14, right? Even though you look older than me, what are you thinking about with that heavy heart all day?"

Dosu Kinata... Is it my fault I look old for my age? He said expressionlessly, "What exactly do you want to ask?"

"Fine, we can put the previous question aside for now. Have you gone to see Gaara? Has Orochimaru contacted you?"

He didn't notice that Uchiha Gen hadn't used an honorific when saying Orochimaru's name, or rather, after the last time, he already understood that Uchiha Gen seemed a bit dissatisfied with Lord Orochimaru.

Dosu Kinata replied concisely, "I went, he hasn't..." He paused, "What are we to Lord Orochimaru?"

He had gone to find Gaara because of Kabuto's hints and his own confidence in his strength, but looking at the gap in power now, it was basically sending him to his death! Although he didn't know why Gaara had shown mercy and let him keep his life in the end.

Since that time, Dosu Kinata hadn't received any instructions. When he returned, Kabuto had looked surprised for a moment but quickly returned to his usual state. He hadn't expected this outcome, but he didn't care either, casually dismissing Dosu Kinata with orders to create chaos when the opportunity arose.

Uchiha Gen nodded ruthlessly, "You could probably say you're just cannon fodder with some minor utility."

"..." Dosu Kinata.

"Hey, tell me, if you had a choice, would you still follow Orochimaru?" Uchiha Gen asked as if it were a casual remark.

Hearing this, Dosu Kinata's eyes were a bit dazed, "...I don't know." As soon as he finished speaking, he was shocked—why would he even have such a thought!

Seeing this, Uchiha Gen smiled and chose not to provoke him further, changing the subject, "Look, the first match is starting. Naruto versus Neji Hyuga. Who do you think will win?"

Dosu Kinata didn't hesitate, "Neji."

Uchiha Gen smiled mysteriously and narrowed his eyes, "I bet on Naruto."

The match ended...

Dosu Kinata fell into a long silence.

"So, don't underestimate any opponent."

"..."

Uchiha Gen, relying on his foresight and holding the script, spoke with an air of superiority. Once finished, he suddenly vanished from before Dosu Kinata and headed straight for the casino with eyes gleaming. Based on Naruto's odds, making 100,000 ryo would be a piece of cake.

Since it was a system product, maybe that artificial skin had some unexpected little surprises, like being able to restore a bit of tactile sensation, even if just a little!

However, because he was anonymous and had won quite a bit, he was targeted by some thugs. In response, Uchiha Gen cast a genjutsu on each of them and let them play with themselves.